Rage Looks Awesome on All Three Platforms

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id shows a side-by-side-by-side comparison at QuakeCon.

By Erik Brudvig

There was a lot of excitement at the QuakeCon demo of Rage this afternoon, and not just because id software settled on a release date more than a year in advance. The developers also chose this opportunity to show Rage running on a PS3 for the first time, and they did so with both the Xbox 360 and PC versions running right next to it on three giant screens.

Now, before this turns into a fanboy war, everyone should know that none of the versions of Rage are complete. Remember, the game is not due out until the latter half of 2011, so everything we saw has to be taken with a grain of salt. Lots of work remains to be done.

That said, Rage looks gorgeous on all three platforms. The PC version -- running on a beast of a machine -- easily looked the best, but the consoles hung with it quite well and all three versions were running at 60 frames per second. It also loaded the fastest, much to the joy of the very pro-PC crowd. The Xbox 360 beat out the PS3 in terms of load times. Before any Xbox 360 fans start gloating, they should know that version of the game is also the only one that crashed during the demo (which is actually a common occurrence in demos of unfinished games).

The main purpose of the presentation was to show the crowd that id is backing up its claims that it would be able to deliver Rage without compromise on consoles. That debate is now finished, as the game is looking phenomenal regardless of your platform of choice. With that as the purpose, however, id did not show a lot of content that we had not previously seen at E3 and other past showcases.

The opening moments of the demo were new, though. We got a look at a path leading away from a shack, where a man named Dan Hagar gives the player a mission to find a big town to the East. This part of the game showed how the open world of Rage is funneled into more familiar shooting combat. The path quickly narrowed, allowing the combat to shift into something akin to a corridor shooter. The world was still open and massive, but the actual action took place along a pretty tight path.

That path didn't last too long, however, before the demo opened up into a big rift valley. Here we got to see two vehicles for the first time, including a little 4x4 ATV and a massive, late-game armored truck. The ATV is something you'll get earlier on in the game -- it offers no protection or firepower, but does get you from point A to point B in a hurry. The armored truck does it all, but you'll have to work for it. This puppy is covered in rusty blades on the front, surrounding a horned skull. It also has several mounted guns and lots of plate armor all over for serious protection. The crowd got to see this truck in action as it laid waste to a few other bandit dune buggies.